Ring Ring.... Ring!

Happy Friday everyone! What a week it’s been, with the re creation of the two bent wood cafe chairs, and the fabulous before and after of the entire bedroom we can finally take a deep breath and toast our successes! As the seasons are beginning to change here and I’ve just got news that the first snow fall of the season may just happen today I want to share with you something that I’ve fallen in love with (a little bit of a splurge but I think with all the money we’ve saved we can afford it!).

It was the winter of 2007, in the “Style at home” Christmas magazine that I first had seen this lovely vintage object. The smooth lines... The beautiful curves... It had an art quality that I loved.

Over the years I have searched and searched for the perfect one... it never actually coming to me. Or when I would find one, it would be too expensive, to hard to get... or just sold. But not today!

The Sculptura Rotary Phone

How expensive was it? Well, before shipping it was just shy of 79$ (US) but added with the shipping it was a little more than 88$. Was it worth it? I think so! I purchased it off this website which sells a plethora of cool vintage and handmade goodies! Any fun plans for the weekend before you get your first snow!?

Before I go to start my day I wanted to leave you with a funny picture I came across of online. Have a great weekend!

60 days in passing

It’s been a few days over 60 now and I was just thinking as I lay in my bed (new sheets and all) that the room has went through an amazing change and I wanted to show you just how amazing that change is! As the fall leaves change, and Starbucks rolls out its Christmas settings and holiday drinks I think of how grateful I am (as opposed to thanksgiving this year where I just felt full).

It’s hard to believe just a bit over two months ago I didn’t even have curtains or pillows, let alone even the slightest idea of what I was going to do with my room. It was what I like to call a “messy delight”.

Then slowly after that we go through the phase of hiding the mess. Like to chipmunks at their best Karen and I ran around storing our nuts (clothes and makeup) for the winter. With that comes the saying “how much can a blanket hide?

Not to worry, it was only 2 weeks later at the blessed Urban Barn that we found these fabulous mark down bedding sets! To which I do believe the sales clerk shuttered when I squealed (glitter cloud to follow). So with that I instantly ran home and through the new bedding set over top of the bed in one seamless realization of what the lovely room could become. Not just a room, but a space that fit both my personal and entertaining needs!

Once we had found the perfect night stands the room started to roll right along, well that was until we started looking for chairs to go around the bistro table (the worst/but hardest find in the history of my decorating life) with that some TLC went into those projects eh voila! A perfect matching set!

After that everything started to fall nicely together, now the room has flow (a new set or curtains from the old ones, a great smell (cini-berries) and a really cool clean feeling! –Almost uplifting-

With one quick glance all the hard work of a few months can be drawn out at a glance, it’s a modern yet, lovely feel, which as soon as the chairs cure I’m looking forward to hosting my first girl party to discuss some wonderful things. The key here is to complete the room because... well folks... Christmas is coming and Santa will want to take a good look at what lovely things in a bedroom downtown on Christmas eve.

For those of you who are just joining us guyonthe-move is updated every monday, wednesday and friday with fantastic tips and cool tricks to keeping your home modern at a frugal price!

The weekend after!

It’s been a long hard weekend, it turns out that painting bent wood chairs presents its own challenges. With everything being curve and cylindrical it becomes an issue to make sure that you get every nook and cranny of every space. It took a frustrating hour per coat per chair (compared to the 20 min for two night stands per coat it was taking me before). So needless to say, between working 16 hour days, and dealing with some personal issues, the entire painting event was a little more stressful than I had planned... I guess this brings a new meaning to blood sweat and tears. Not to worry though, I put my nose once again to the grind stone, and completed the long hard task of painting the chairs.

I originally decided on a bright green, although, as I stood there (paint sample in tow) I had a shocking thought, I might not like green for an extended period of time... thus I concluded to stay with shades, and accent with bolds (it also gave it more of a Paris meets Edmonton kind of look).

The happily before pictures of the chairs/room/space:

If you follow along with the steps, or are trying this at home, sanding down the pieces is a must, then after that you want to apply an oil based primer to seal the wood.

After you have completed that, it’s best to apply a water based paint (it comes out of floors better I promise!) and to take a deep breath! You have 2-4 coats to finish ahead of you.

Lastly, it’s time to let it set (and apply a poly coat if you want for that added wipe-able protection)

For those of you who are just joining us guyonthe-move is updated every monday, wednesday and friday with fantastic tips and cool tricks to keeping your home modern at a frugal price!

Now time to accent! Off to HomeSence! Make sure to check out Wednesday’s blog for some amazing before and after pictures!

Relax... it's here

To be honest most of the beginning of this blog was me running aimlessly with my boyfriend Rhys patiently reminding me to relax. I’d run to homescense, freak out when they had 4 picture frames and I needed 12, or I’d run to the other homescense and freak out when the only had 1 lamp and I needed 2... and the list goes on and on... and somewhere along the way (please add a cup of coffee to my hand while I panic) I’ve adapted the song “relax” as a constant song that plays over and over while I shop. Does it provide therapy to my shopping experiences? No... not really... but it is a nice background theme song. Regardless... that’s not why I am typing at this exact moment.... oh no. Because right at the moment that I had given up, to hang up my hate an pay 300 large for 2 replica eames chairs something beautiful happened.

The Thonet Bentwood Chair



A designer by the named or Michael Thonet designed these bad boys in the mid 1800’s (which I guess makes this the oldest style in my room as of yet), it is said that this chair represents modern economy at it’s best with a simple and humble design. These chairs are said to have some of the most influential design in furniture to date. And here I am with two.

So if you haven’t guessed by this time, I have no intention of keeping them the wood colour they are, in fact I have every intention of painting them... to what colour is still unclear but one thing can be certain, at 10$ a pop... they are by far my thriftiest investment yet (investment pieces to you Karen).

The Epic Fail!

60 days and 60 nights... and the verdict is in. I’m still not done (insert sad face here) if some things would have went more smoothly there is a good chance that the room would have been done on time with budget, but the truth is that some of my “master plan” ideas did in fact fall through. A better (but less known) was when I was waiting to pick up a thrifty set of chairs (via 1950’s) for a crazy low price... however the owner had sold them before I got there.

The good news (or should I say great news) is that now I get to be thrifty while still looking (perhaps even outside of the budget) still not paying full price! But focusing more on the completion of the room rather than the 320$ budget (which thankfully I still have 100$ left of!)

So after a long distinctive conversation with myself (yes I am that crazy person you see in the supermarket talking to myself) so rather than sit here and talk about it I’ll show you what you’re really waiting for!

So in the words of starbucks: some things are best enjoyed with a great cup of coffee...

One day left!

Good morning everyone! Sorry for the delay, it seems that with long awesome road trips comes the relapse forget about everything days. So I’ve been laying in bed, looking at my room thinking “holy crap, I have 4 days left” and this morning when I woke up and though “holy crap I have one day left” I knew I had to post you the sad news! The room will not be completed on time ->insert sad face here<- so that was the bad news! The good news is that everything is free flowing... because as of tomorrow I can loosen up my budget pants a bit and let the real thrifty interior decorate have a go!

Not all is lost my little ones! (did I not just sound like some Disney character?) because even while I was on holidays I was searching for our room! So in that picture that I love with all of those amazing frames it has ... let’s take a look... 17 picture frames, and I now thanks to some thrifty finds have a few less to get right now! So as of late I’ve been focusing all of my energy on finding some picture frames to complete the mural:

All for such low prices I’m sure you are all as impressed with me as I am with myself! So tonight I plan on once again going to risk my life against other discount shoppers to find some great bargain deals and completing what I have now dubbed the almost complete but not quite room.

A simle change

Waking up late does not give you much time to write a blog, actually it gives you less than ten minutes to write a blog! So here we go!

Still with no luck finding any new chairs for the bedroom, and even less luck trying to sort out the wall to the right (or as I like to call it the naked wall – which I am far to embarrassed to show you till I do in fact have a plan) I have decided to focus a bit of my energy on the mural wall. With only a total of 8 days left till the room is expected to be completed (which just happens to be Kelly’s birthday) I need to spread myself out a bit more.

My roommate had given me several old frames that she had, I then removed the old pictures by ripping through the paper in the back and removing the foam, adding my own black and white pictures that I created at wal mart for 33 cents a piece.

Not the most labour intense job, but a step to completing what is to be a pretty detailed design project. As for chairs, I’ve got my eyes set on a set of replicas if we cannot make the due date. Alas they themselves go over the budget alone... but that brings me to wonder... should I get them, but my inner teenager screems “But they’re so cool!”

Some fond memories of growing up. At the end of the project (with a few more free/discount picture frames... I'm hopeing that it looks something like this in the end (except with a table and chairs).